President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) appeared at odds yesterday about the need for an extraordinary legislative session to pass a controversial proposed amendment to the Local Government Act (地方制度法).
The amendment would reorganize local governments ahead of December’s elections for the heads of five newly created special municipalities, but has been subject to a legislative boycott by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of trying to buy the support of local officials with the promise of paid jobs.
Speaking to the KMT Central Standing Committee in his capacity as party chairman, Ma urged the party’s legislative caucus to hold an extra legislative session to approve the amendment.
“There will not be enough time to redraw the election districts and hold elections according to schedule if the amendment fails to pass the legislature, and the whole city/county rezoning plan will not be implemented,” Ma said at party headquarters.
He asked the party’s policy committee and legislative caucus to complete the legislation process on time to give the Ministry of the Interior and other government agencies enough time to plan for the rezoning.
Ma made the remarks after the DPP occupied the podium on the legislative floor on Tuesday to prevent passage of the amendment. The legislature went into recess after Tuesday’s plenary session ended around midnight.
Wang, however, said he did not see the need for an extra session.
“Didn’t Premier Wu [Den-yih (吳敦義)] make it clear last night [Tuesday night] that the government would still have enough time even if the legislature passes the bill in March or April?” Wang said.
The speaker said he hoped everyone would respect the legislature’s provisional session mechanism.
“We can only convene such a session to deal with something extremely important instead of constantly holding such a session,” Wang said.
At the crux of the dispute is the KMT’s proposal for township chiefs and councilors, who are set to lose their posts by the end of the year when townships are converted into districts under the special municipalities.
Under the KMT proposal, the township chiefs would be appointed as directors of districts under the special municipalities, while the township councilors would be advisers to the directors, with a monthly salary of about NT$45,000.
The DPP has accused the KMT of trying to buy support for the party’s candidates in the year-end elections via the proposal.
Ma echoed Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah’s (江宜樺) comments on Tuesday that the proposed amendment was a transitional measure that has been accepted by most county commissioners and city mayors.
Jiang said under the government’s plan, the seats for Taipei City councilors, for example, would be increased from 52 to 62. It would be difficult for political parties to nominate candidates and prepare for the campaign if the amendment is not passed in time, he said.
Jiang said it was also a money-saving strategy because by putting the district consultants on a monthly salary of NT$45,000 for four years, the total cost would only be NT$3 billion, while keeping them on the payroll as township councilors would cost NT$6.2 billion.
The KMT caucus yesterday also called for a provisional meeting to deal with the amendment.
KMT caucus secretary-general Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) told reporters that it was urgent for the legislature to convene an extraordinary session to pass the bill because postponing its review might affect the reorganization of the constituencies for city councilors in the year-end polls.
KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said the government would not have sufficient time to complete the reorganization if the legislature passes the bill in the spring session.
Legislators are scheduled to report for duty on Feb. 1, but they have not agreed on the date to begin the spring session.
The DPP said it would continue to oppose the KMT’s proposal.
“The DPP was criticized after legislators occupied the podium during the legislative plenary session yesterday [Tuesday]. However, the party uses this tactic to prevent controversial bills from being passed by the KMT-dominated legislature in the hope it will raise public awareness and lead to public discussion about them,” DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told a press conference yesterday.
She called the KMT-dominated legislature majority “violent,” accusing KMT legislators of hurting the country and the public by pushing through controversial bills.
DPP spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said the party advocates that township councilors be an unpaid position and township chiefs should not be appointed as directors of districts under the special municipalities. Instead, the heads of special municipalities should appoint their own district directors.
Because of the deadlock over the proposed amendment to the Local Government Act, legislators did not begin a vote on a number of proposed amendments to the Organic Act of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法) until around 10pm on Tuesday — hours after lawmakers passed the central government’s fiscal budget request.
The amendment stipulates that the Executive Yuan should be downsized from 37 branches to 29 while the number of public officials under the Executive Yuan should be capped at 173,000, down from about 220,000.
The streamlining will take effect on Jan. 1, 2012.
Under the amendment, the Sports Affairs Council and the National Youth Commission will be merged with the Ministry of Education.
The Government Information Office will be merged with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission will be merged with the Mainland Affairs Council.
Several government branches such as the Environmental Protection Administration, the Council for Cultural Affairs and the Council of Labor Affairs will be elevated to ministerial levels.
The number of central government employees currently stands at around 164,000, said the Central Personnel Administration, which is in charge of the overall personnel administration within the ministries and agencies under the Executive Yuan.
“Under the cap of 173,000, the government can increase its employees by a maximum of 5 percent. That means it can recruit more personnel specialized in the fields of disaster-relief, coastal patrol, judicial reform and preservation work,” said Chang Nien-chung (張念中), the council’s chief secretary.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
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